Minister for sport kate ellis has cut sports funding and john coates manager of sports oz says we need an injection of another $100 millions to stay competitive.

Do aussies focus too much on sports success at expense of other more important aspects of our culture.

Or is coates right when he cites the successful performance of high profile sporting athletes on the world stage as great lift and contribution to australia's global profile. Also how these super athletes encourage the 'young' into sport.

Well, we're a relatively small country but one area where we've proven to excel is in international sports. When you consider the populations of the nations who we're competing against:

Britain 63MGermany 80MRussia 142MUS 300MChina 1.3B

Australia: 21M

It's quite staggering that such a small country can even compete against such odds & an area where we get more than our share of the international limelight. It's probably our international sporting achievements that stopped most of the people of the world thinking Australia is a small European nation next-to Germany. You can't underestimate the impact that can have on a country's moral. I think even people who don't follow sport can appreciate such an amazing achievement & still feel a sense of pride.

Look, I couldn't care less how far someone can throw a javelin, a disc or a chain with a ball at the end. I don't care how fast a group of blokes can run holding a little stick or how well a bunch of girls can stand on their heads in a swimming pool kicking their legs in the air. That's not the real issue. Anyone who thinks it is is missing the point.

It''s a field where Australia is noticed, taken seriously, admired, respected & even feared by otherwise more powerful nations &, personally, I think it's worth it.

And it's not just the Olympics. When you turn on Channel ONE & see a decathlon in Tokyo, a triathlon Hong Kong, a track & field in Berlin or Edinburgh, there's just about always one or two Australians in the top ten somewhere. A little country showing the world how it can be a big one.

Look, I couldn't care less how far someone can throw a javelin, a disc or a chain with a ball at the end. I don't care how fast a group of blokes can run holding a little stick or how well a bunch of girls can stand on their heads in a swimming pool kicking their legs in the air. That's not the real issue. Anyone who thinks it is is missing the point.

It''s a field where Australia is noticed, taken seriously, admired, respected & even feared by otherwise more powerful nations &, personally, I think it's worth it.

Great to over achieve in sport but I wonder wouldnt it be great to overachieve in other areas too. Arts/sciences for instance.

Right now in the north-west of WA major major building/mining infrastructure projects going on and most of it at least all the high intelligence stuff is going toward overseas countries technological capabilities with australian companies getting the basic shoveling and move it about in trucks shit. Oh yeah and service related stuff [meaning cleaning toilets serving meals washing clothes de da dah].Few rich mining billionaires getting all the proceeds by selling cheap rock into china korea japan elsewhere, and buying fat mansions down by the coast etc.

-And rarely supporting australian science or arts! Aussie Billionaires well known for their lack of philanthropy toward anyone than themselves by way of cheap tax manouveres/havens.

Love to see the socceroo's win world cup though be great. League should go and concentrate on being best in world game of rugby .

If Coates and his mates cut back on all the freebies and holidays there might be enough money for all sport . Seems some of these so called elite sporting stars want it all hand some back to grassroots sport were its needed .

Funding for sports in aust is great but when someone actually achieves something, they get bucket loads of cash from sponsors etc, don't thank the aust taxpayers, pay back nothing and live the easy life(most anyway )...The surgeon who split the conjoined twins this week, probably had to repay $100 000 plus from grants that put him through uni & medical school...If the atheletes are going to give back to the community, great,otherwise, give the money to those who will...

Successful Athletes can make a fortune and see most of it spent on fast cars etc very little is contributed back into the australian sporting community. Very little.

As much as we all love top athletes they do not represent australia as a nation very well intellectually either. Look at warney and all these cricketers and football players. Seriously.

These contribute massively to other nations ideas of what it means to be an australian ie., with sporting folk its usually fairly average in terms of overall knowledge mind development and even a little arrogant/superficial -male or female sports athlete.

Thats ok when a country has more than sportsmen and women to represent it, which in australia's case is rare.

Its always been our sportsmen or women.

'Special Sporting Tax' for them. So the onus isnt always on the average australian taxpayer to make them rich. Could say that about religion too actually.